Drop Everything

How many of you have heard a Palm Sunday sermon before? How many of you have heard a Palm Sunday that talked about how the donkey was how David had entered Jerusalem when he became king? Or how Jesus was entering as king and how the people thought He was going to kick the Romans out and be a conquering hero? How did I know that?

Because I’ve heard 26 Palm Sunday sermons in my life and a lot of them have those points in there somewhere.

But some of my research this past week tells a little bit of a different story. Every week I spend some time studying whatever I’m preaching on for the week, and one of my goals is that if someone comes to me with a question about the text - even part of the text I didn’t really preach on - that I’ll be as equipped as possible to answer it. So as I’m learning and studying more about this text, I came across some other leaders, some other kings that entered Jerusalem and their reception was very different from Jesus’ - and I want to look at those different stories a little bit.

Is He worth my time?

The first is the story of a figure whose name you might have heard before, Alexander the Great. Alexander was a king who was never reported to have lost a battle, for all intents and purposes he had conquered the known world. I mean, just listen to some of the legends that were told about him.

A fable for Greek sailors is this story where a single mermaid stops a ship during a storm and asks “Is King Alexander alive?” The captain answers “He is alive and well and rules the world!” At which point the mermaid disappears and the storm calms.

And there’s this quote that many people attribute to Alexander today, to the effect of “Alexander looked upon the breadth of his domain and wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer.”

The man who inspired these legends was a brilliant general and at the time of his reign probably the most powerful, most wealthy, most famous person in the world. And this man approaches Jerusalem, and the high priest tells the people to decorate the whole city with wreaths. All the priests put on their fancy robes and official regalia while all of the people dress in white robe, and they go out to meet and welcome Alexander. From there, they lead him to the temple.

Now that doesn’t sound anything like the reception Jesus receives. The priests don’t have the city decorated, they don’t come out all dressed up, even the people aren’t all dressed for the reception. So what’s the difference? Why isn’t Jesus received this way?

Well, I think it really comes down to this - Alexander was worth the leaders’ time. They are generally portrayed as wanting money and honor and power - and no one in the world was better suited to give them that then Alexander. So they take the time, they drop everything to meet and receive Alexander. But they see Jesus and he’s not worth their time, so they don’t do anything. And it reminds me of something we talked about at youth night last week, this idea that it’s “my time” versus the reality that it’s not our time, it’s God’s time and we’re just taking care of it for Him. So when I compare Jesus’ reception to Alexander’s, I’m reminded that we’re supposed to take time for God - whether that’s worship or devotions or prayer - and that we’re supposed to take time for people in our lives - whether they’re family or friends or strangers - because they are worth our time.

"Everything’s Fine”

The second other story I cam across was to another religious leader, known only as “the Egyptian,” which is a pretty cool thing to be known by. This all takes place about 50 years after Jesus dies and rises. This Egyptian recruits a large number of followers and the assemble near Jerusalem. They’re getting ready to storm into Jerusalem and overwhelm the Roman garrison. The Romans realize this is happening and the recognize the Egyptian as a political threat. So they do something the Romans are fairly good at doing. They take action, they make the threat disappear.

Now that doesn’t sound much like the reception Jesus receives. The Romans don’t send troops out to intercept Him, they don’t suppress the crowd, as far as we can tell they mostly just ignore Him. They don’t deal with Jesus until the chief priest forces them to. So what’s the difference? Why isn’t Jesus received this way?

Well, I think it really comes down to this - Jesus wasn’t worth the effort. The Romans were trying to maintain their hold on the city and Jesus didn’t really pose a threat to that. Generally speaking, He advocated for peace in society and obedience to those in authority - the Romans have no major issue with this. So the Romans see Jesus and He doesn’t pose a threat, He isn’t worth addressing. And I think people today can sometime take a similar attitude towards Jesus - kind of. By that I mean, the threat of death and hell doesn’t seem imminent for people, they don’t see it as a possibility, so they don’t take any steps to address it. They look at Jesus at the gate and think “I don’t need the Gospel, there’s nothing worth addressing here.” It’s not worth the effort to foster and develop their faith. It makes me think of this meme . . .

“This is fine” Dog

. . . so when I compare Jesus’ reception to the Egyptian’s, I’m reminded that there are very real consequences of our sin that we need to deal with - even if we don’t think they look like a threat.

The Real Lesson of Palm Sunday

And all of this is talking about how people don’t respond to Jesus, examples of things we shouldn’t do. Which can be helpful, but I think it’s more helpful to look at people who were on the right track. We have the guy who lives on the edge of town with his donkey. The disciples come and just start taking it and he’s like, “hey guys, what are you doing there?” They tell him that Jesus needs the donkey and he’s like, “well, carry on then.” He probably needed that donkey for something, but instead he gave it up to serve Jesus. We have the people who spread their cloaks on the road, the people who cut down leafy branches to line the road for Jesus. These people presumably had other stuff to do with “their time,” but instead they sacrificed it to serve Jesus. We have people who go before and after Jesus, announcing and praising Him. They also presumably had jobs or families or other things they could be doing with “their time,” but instead they sacrificed to serve Jesus. They get it, they don’t get it perfectly, they might not understand the kind of king He’s going to be, but they get that He is worth arranging their day around. And those are all great things to notice and take away. That Jesus and the people He tells us to serve are worth “our time,” He’s worth our sacrifices.

But there’s a reversal here that I think is even more important. And that is that Jesus comes into Jerusalem to die and to rise again. Jesus comes into Jerusalem to be crowned king, to be inaugurated as the Lord of all creation. He comes into Jerusalem to establish a kingdom that will go on forever. And the reversal is that He takes the time and the effort to recognize us, He meets us outside the gate and invites us in, He stops everything to include us in His kingdom. That’s what I see on Palm Sunday, I see Jesus coming to establish His eternal kingdom, I see people celebrating that, and I see the invitation He offers us to join in. Amen.